The Show Must Go On! part 2
by jak981125
Summary: It all ends here. Is history about to repeat itself? The prospect that Lau could die as Spike did is all too real and frightening to his loved ones. But there's no stopping him now. Hang on to your seats as Cowboy Bebop: The Lau Saga concludes.


Session 16  
  
THE SHOW MUST GO ON! (part 2)  
  
by jak981125  
  
Note: This story is part of a series. It will make more sense if you read the earlier sessions.  
  
"Stupid Lau!" grumbled Jet. "It was his idea to leave Mars in the first place. Then he pulls a one-eighty on me and this happens!"   
  
Jet walked up to Laughing Bull's teepee and slowly entered. The two men gazed at one another for a moment without speaking. "You are trembling, Running Rock," said Laughing Bull. "The woman and her child will live. I have foreseen it."   
  
Jet turned to leave but stopped. He slowly turned back around. "That's not my only concern," he said softly.  
  
"I know," replied Laughing Bull. "What is it that frightens you so much my son?"  
  
"The past," replied Jet. "I can't stand the thought that history could repeat itself. I'm worried my partner will go out the same way Spike did. I'm not sure I could handle it if that happened."  
  
Lau was sitting on a gurney in the emergency room with an oxygen mask on his face. Tears of anxiety ran down his cheeks because no one could tell him what was happening. After Faye had been hit, Lau had gone into shock and stopped breathing. Three male nurses, ignoring orders to wait for the police, ran outside to aide Faye and Lau. Lau might not have lived long enough for the police to show up. Upstairs, Faye and her new daughter were having emergency surgery. The bullet had torn through the baby's buttock. Any injury like that is life-threatening to someone that small, but she was doing all right. Faye had been given several units of blood and her outlook improved dramatically as well.  
  
Back in the wilderness, Laughing Bull sighed. "Why do you have such a strong fear of death? Are you so afraid of it that you will blind yourself to what is required? It is an inevitable reality. Why do you cling so tightly to this fantasy that you believe to be the real world?"  
  
"Then it's not real?" asked Jet. "You mean to tell me that Vicious was right in that crazy letter of his?"  
  
"The Snake saw much, perhaps more than most men ever will," replied Laughing Bull. "But though he had two good eyes to see with, he blinded himself so that he could not see the whole picture. I can only conclude that his blindness led him out of this world through the wrong door. It is the door that leads to true death, and that is what should truly be feared; real and unending death."  
  
Jet stood up to leave. "You have not answered my question yet, Running Rock," said Laughing Bull. "In this world there are many snakes all around us and the innocent must be protected. While they strike at heels, man must strike at their heads."  
  
"I didn't know you knew anything so Biblical," replied Jet.  
  
"See this weapon?" asked Laughing Bull, holding up an ax. "I once killed a man with this. He tried to rape one of my daughters at knife-point. So I killed him."  
  
"Well of course you did," replied Jet. "You had a right to defend your family."  
  
"More than a right," replied Laughing Bull. "I had an obligation. Lau now feels the weight of this obligation as well. It is not out of hate or malice that he will seek out and destroy his enemy. It is out of obligation towards his family and towards the innocent. Now, Running Rock, what are you prepared to do for your family?"  
  
"Me?" asked Jet. "I don't have a...." He suddenly stopped.  
  
Laughing Bull led Jet outside and pointed at the sky. "I recently saw the most amazing thing," he said. "Those two stars there, they were alone, isolated, far away from one another. In just one night they drifted towards one another and have been side-by-side ever since. They are inseparable."  
  
"You're talking about me and Ed, aren't you?"  
  
Lau stood over Faye as she lay unconscious in a bed in post-op. Next to her was the baby, also unconscious. I'm sure you can imagine what was going through Lau's mind at this point. Seeing his young family hurt like that was too much to take.  
  
In the wilderness Laughing Bull put his arm around Jet's shoulder. "Should your fear of what lies beyond render you unable to stand up and do the right thing in spite of the danger? I know you are no coward. But remember that each spirit must render an account of itself at the end of it's life to the Great Spirit. The child needs you. It was no accident that she came to you. Your feelings that developed towards her after she left were no accident either. It was all part of the Great Spirit's design. It is His will that you watch over her and raise her. These snakes are bullies and cowards. They have sought to harm innocent bystanders to make you and your partner suffer. You must forget the pain of the past and deal with this."  
  
"If I do, will I live long enough to see her grow up?" asked Jet quietly.   
  
"So your true fear surfaces at last," said Laughing Bull. "It is not for me to know. I have not foreseen the fall of your star just yet, so I believe their is good chance of it. Now go! Go be with your partner."  
  
Lau walked out of the hospital. His car was still outside by the emergency room entrance. He watched in horror as two men used a hose to clean Faye's blood off the sidewalk. Angrily, he walked to his car and pulled out of the parking lot.  
  
On the Bebop, Ed sat on a sofa, stroking Ein's fur. Ein whined softly. "Is Edward hurting you? Ed is sorry. Poor Ein." Just then Ed detected she was not alone. Jet was standing behind her watching her. "Jet, Ed didn't hear you come in. Are you done talking to your friend yet?"  
  
He nodded and sat down next to her. "Have you heard from Lau at all about how Faye and the baby are doing?"  
  
"No, nobody has called Edward since you left."  
  
"Ed, we need to talk about something important," said Jet.  
  
Lau drove over to the west side of town and backed the car into an alley. Carefully he watched everyone who went by. He was waiting to see a syndicate man on his side of the street who was all alone.  
  
Jet sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Ed, I was thinking that I might...no...I was thinking that I do really want to adopt you. I want to be your father, not just some legal guardian. The day you walked back into my life was probably the happiest day I've ever known."  
  
Ed sat back with her eyes wide open. "You...want to be...Ed's father person?"  
  
"If that's OK with you, sweetie."  
  
Ed smiled. "Ed likes being called sweetie, and she likes Jet, and Ed says if Jet wants to be the father person, then WAH HOO!" She and Jet embraced.  
  
In the alley, Lau saw exactly what he was looking for. A syndicate man stepped into the alley to sneak a reefer on the side. He hadn't even noticed that someone was in the sedan he was standing next to. Or maybe he felt like he could do anything in front of anyone as long as he was in syndicate garb. He couldn't have been more mistaken. Before he knew what hit him, Lau grabbed him, disarmed him, and threw him against a wall. Before the man could make a sound, Lau jammed his gun in his mouth. "I've got a little message for Akira," he said.  
  
Back on the Bebop, Ed searched rapidly through the bounty hunter database. "Aye ya, every single name you gave Ed checks out. All these guys have a bounty."  
  
"OK, good Ed. That's all the remaining syndicate members on Mars. Now I need a couple more favors. First of all I need the blueprints for this address." Jet handed Ed a business card. "Second, you controlled the Bebop with a remote control a couple of times. Do you think you could do the same thing with the Swordfish?"   
  
Ed nodded. "Sure, Ed can do that. It's easy."  
  
"OK, you get to work on that and I have a couple of calls to make." Jet pulled out a phone. "Hello Bob, you're still on Mars right now, right? Good. Say Bob, feel like doing something a little crazy?"  
  
Returning to the hospital, Lau stepped out of the elevator and headed to post-op. Faye and the baby were gone. The nurse told him they had been given a private room, so he headed over there. Faye was still asleep as he approached. The baby was awake and lying on it's stomach. It had an awfully confused look on it's face as if to say "Hey, why does my butt hurt?"  
  
As Lau walked over, the baby looked up at him with her eyes wide open. Lau reached over, and softly stroked the wisps of hairs on her head. She reached up and grabbed his finger. Lau had never felt anything in his life before quite like he was feeling now. He leaned over and kissed the baby on the head. The baby let go of his finger and went back to sleep.  
  
"Isn't she beautiful?"  
  
Lau looked over to see that it was Faye who had spoken. She was awake, but a wee bit groggy. Her hospital bed was pretty big, so he climbed in next to her and laid down. He leaned over and kissed Faye's lips gently. "I don't need anything else in life now," he said.  
  
The smile on his face slowly vanished. "Lau, what's wrong?" asked Faye. "All of the sudden you have the most serious look on your face."  
  
"It won't stop here," he replied. "They won't stop coming after us until I do something about this."  
  
Faye had been groggy but upon hearing that she was wide awake. "No, don't say that! Please, don't go doing something stupid. Not now. We need you. We love you so much. Please!"  
  
"Faye, I have no intention of going out and getting myself killed the way Spike did, if that's what you're worried about," he said. "I'm not going to do something like single-handedly take on a small army of goons."  
  
"But you're going to do something, aren't you?" asked Faye.  
  
"Akira."  
  
"No."  
  
"I have to."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"I'm nothing to the rest of these scumbags," replied Lau. "Without him, they won't care about us. Akira on the other hand poses a constant danger to me. I can handle that but what I can't handle is him coming after my family. He goes, we're safe, that's that."  
  
"But if you go after their leader..."  
  
"They won't be around to take retribution," said Jet from the doorway. "We're taking them out tonight. All of them. Anyone who doesn't surrender dies."  
  
Lau stood up and looked into his partner's eyes. "I wish I could come with you, but my business is with Akira tonight."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Lau...Lau, dammit, you'd better not get killed!" said Faye.   
  
Lau smiled. "I'm two-for-two against this guy. He goes down tonight. End of story." He walked over and kissed her and the baby one last time. He took one more look at them and then walked out.  
  
Faye tried to put on a brave front, but as soon as Lau and Jet walked out of the room, she burst into tears.  
  
At the syndicate headquarters, the man that Lau had grabbed raced upstairs to the lair of the Van. He opened the door and raced up to Akira. Akira opened his eyes and looked deeply into the thug's eyes. He smiled.  
  
"You've just had a run-in with Lau, haven't you?" he asked.  
  
"Yes sir. He gave me a message. He wants to challenge you to a duel tonight."  
  
"And what are the terms?" asked Akira.  
  
"Swords only, no guns. You also have to come alone."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"The pedestrian bridge over the river by State Street."  
  
"I accept," said Akira with a gleam in his eye.  
  
"Sir, what instructions do you have for the rest of us? We're gonna ambush him, right?"  
  
"If I see any of you within a hundred miles of that bridge, I'll kill you myself," replied Akira. "This is between me and Lau. The rest of the Clan stays here on guard duty tonight in case the cops try to invade."  
  
"But what if you're walking into a trap? Please take someone with you. It's for your own good, sir."  
  
"My own good?" Akira, without warning, pulled out a gun and shot the man to death. "Have someone clean him up."  
  
In the hallway at the hospital, Lau and Jet were talking. "Every one of the Blue Snakes has a price on his head," explained Jet. "Me and Bob have put together an entire group of bounty hunters on rather short notice. We're going in there and we're gonna put a stop to these guys once and for all. I'm telling you, we thought of everything. Our inside man in the syndicate says everyone is going to be at headquarters tonight on guard duty. One thing though. Think I could borrow the Swordfish?"  
  
Lau managed a weak smile. "Sure. Sounds like you've got this all figured out. Can I ask you something? What was the last thing you and Spike ever said to each other?"  
  
"Before he went out to get Vicious, I asked him if he was doing this for Julia," replied Jet.  
  
"What did he say?"  
  
"He said that she was dead and there was nothing he could do for her now. What about you, Lau? Are you doing it for the girl?"  
  
"Yeah. I am. What about you? Are you doing this for Ed?"  
  
"I'm going to adopt her," replied Jet. He held out his hand and spit in it. "Lau, let's make a solemn pact right now. If I don't come back from this, you take care of Ed and Ein. If you don't come back from this, I take care of Faye and the baby. What do you say?"  
  
Lau said nothing but spit in his own hand and shook hands with Jet. He started to walk away but stopped. Her turned back and gave Jet a hug. "Save a place for me at the dinner table, OK Jet?"  
  
"Sure thing, Lau."  
  
Lau walked out. He got into his car and drove off towards State Street. Images flashed through his mind. He remembered the day he met Talia, his first wife. She hadn't heard him coming and the two of them bumped into one another on the sidewalk. It took Lau less than a moment to realize she was blind. He couldn't help but think she was also the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He also remembered the exact moment he fell in love with Faye. It was at the banquet after Danny's funeral. She had sat down and the two had stared into each other's eyes. He had to fight an overwhelming urge to lean over and kiss her right there and then. He arrived at his destination and stepped out of the car. It was chilly so he was wearing a black trench coat. Hidden underneath was Vicious's katana. He walked up to the bridge and waited for Akira to show up.  
  
A couple of blocks away from the Blue Snake HQ, Ed was waiting all alone on top of a warehouse. The Swordfish was parked on the roof next door. With her binoculars, she could see the target building very well. It looked crowded tonight.  
  
Standing on the bridge, Lau didn't have to wait too long. Akira appeared out of the shadows a few minutes later. The two old enemies stared at each other in silence for a moment. "They both survived," Lau finally said.   
  
"I'll make sure to remedy that as soon as I'm done killing you," replied Akira coldly. "You brought this on yourself and on them, Lau. I recall once warning you what would happen if you didn't finish me off back in San Francisco. You brought this on your own family."  
  
Lau frowned at him. "One of two things happens tonight. One: I disarm you and collect a very generous bounty on your sorry ass. Two: you die. Only two options."  
  
"You forgot the third option in which I take your head home for a trophy," smirked Akira.   
  
"There is no third option," said Lau. "Let's do this." Both of them drew their swords. The metal gleamed eerily under the street light. The blades made almost a sizzling sound as they clashed.  
  
Across town, Ed saw all the lights in the Snake HQ go out suddenly. She knew power to the building had just been cut. Just then, she received a transmission from Jet. "Ed, green light!" Immediately she pulled out a remote control and activated the Swordfish. Using the other roof like a runway, it took off. Ed guided it down to about street level.  
  
The guards inside were expecting some sort of trouble but none of them were prepared when the Swordfish crashed through the glass doors and started flying around the lobby. It started spraying a non-flammable knock-out gas all over the place. The machine gun fired tranquilizer bullets at anything that moved. When it ran out of gas and ammo, it landed. Just then a small army of bounty hunters lead by Jet ran in. All of them were wearing body armor and gas masks. They also all had night-vision goggles. They raced up the stairs to search assigned floors.  
  
Back at the bridge, Akira and Lau were going at it hammer and tongs. Both of them had some degree of training in sword fighting. Akira reached into his sleeve and tossed a knife at Lau. Lau saw it coming and batted it out of the air harmlessly with his katana.  
  
At headquarters, machine gun fire could be heard throughout the building. Very few Blue Snakes surrendered. Those that tried to fight were gunned down immediately. Not one inch of the building was left unsearched. Outside, Ed was watching to warn if she saw anyone escaping. She had four remote controlled toy helicopters with cameras hovering over the building. Other bounty hunters would grab anyone that she warned them about.  
  
Jet and Bob raced to the top floor. They had a specific target in mind; Lobo Jenkins. Lobo was by far the most valuable bounty head in the entire building. They ran to the end of the hallway and kicked in a door on the right. At the far end of a large office was Lobo. They couldn't see his face very well with the night-vision but they knew it was him. But as soon as Jet shined a flashlight in his face, he saw something he wasn't prepared for. Lobo had taken red eye. "BOB, HE JUICED UP!" screamed Jet at the top of his lungs. Lobo charged at them. He easily dodged every shot they fired at him. He plowed into Bob so hard that he knocked him through a wall. He then turned his attention on Jet. Jet immediately dropped to one knee and punched him in the groin as hard as he could with his metal arm. In anger he grabbed Jet by the throat. Jet shot him in the gut and Lobo let go for just a moment. Jet backed up as quickly as he could. Lobo looked at his wound for a moment and then at Jet. In a rage he charged at him. At the last possible moment Jet jumped out of his way. So forcefully had Lobo charged, that he crashed through the wall and right out the side of the building. He fell to his death on the street below. The raid had been an overwhelming success. The Blue Snake had been defeated. All but one.  
  
Faster and faster, Lau and Akira traded blows. One had come too close to Lau and he had not been able to move away quickly enough to avoid getting his cheek lacerated. And then...quick as lightning Lau made a twisting motion with his katana and knocked the sword out of Akira's hand. He put his blade to the gangster's throat. "I told you there were only two options."  
  
Akira smiled. "I'll take option number two!" He reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a gun. Lau slit his throat before he could fire. Akira dropped the gun and pointed his finger at Lau. "Bang!" And he dropped to the pavement and died. His little joke was lost on Lau. Lau hadn't seen Spike die. It was over. The Mars syndicate was officially dead. Lau took one last look at his fallen opponent and walked back to his car.  
  
A few days later the Bebop had a new resident. Faye and Lau were as proud as you could imagine as they walked in with their new baby. To honor Spike, they had named the baby Julia. Ein hobbled over to the couch, hoping to get a good look at the infant.  
  
Just then, Jet walked in triumphantly with Ed on his shoulders. "It's official. I met your new daughter, now you meet mine." He set Ed down so she could look at little Julia. Jet sat down next to Lau. "It's such a relief knowing that life isn't just a series of sad endings."  
  
Lau looked at him. "Jet, I don't know about you, but I've had about enough excitement for one lifetime. Let's get out of here."  
  
Faye smiled and looked up. "I think my husband has a business proposition for you, Jet."  
  
"You said you were thinking about using the prize money for an investment," said Lau. I've got one in mind. Let's go back to New York and make Manhattan Fugitive Recovery an offer to buy their business."  
  
"All right! Edward loves New York. Can we go Jet...I mean papa, can we please?"  
  
Jet grinned. "Before we talk about that, we have to talk about something else. If we go to New York, that's fine, but once we get there, the Bebop's yours."  
  
"What?" asked Lau in disbelief.  
  
"Me and Ed should get out of your hair and get our own place," replied Jet. "You guys deserve to have a home to yourself."  
  
"But it's your ship," replied Faye. "If anything we should leave."  
  
"Nothing doing," replied Jet. "I never gave you guys a wedding present, so this is it. As for MFR, sure, sounds like a good idea."  
  
"But Ed wants to stay on Bebop and watch Julia grow up," complained Ed.  
  
"Tell you what, I'll make you our official baby-sitter," replied Faye. "You can see Julia every day." She handed Julia over to Ed.   
  
"Excuse me for a minute, I have one thing I have to take care of," said Lau. He got up and went into his bedroom. He reached under the bed and pulled out the katana. He climbed up to the deck of the ship. He drew the sword and sliced the air with it a couple of times. He smiled, put it back in it's sheath, and threw it overboard. THE END.  
  
Look for "COWBOY BEBOP: The Second Movie", coming soon to a website near you.  
  
HAPPY TRAILS SPACE COWBOY  
  
(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner  
  
jak981125@catholic.org  
  
Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't. This is just fanfiction. 


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